"BLINDNESS", by José Saramago

“Blindness” is a novel by recognised Portuguese author José Saramago. It was published in 1995 and its original title is “Ensaio sobre a cegueira”. José Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998 and this is one of his most famous novels.

The plot is set in an unnamed city and tells the story of a strange epidemic of “white blindness”.

The unexplained origin of the blindness causes panic and the government puts affected people into isolation in order to contain the contagion.

The story focuses on a group of these people in quarantine. The main character is “the doctor´s wife”, who is not affected by blindness. She passes herself off as blind and helps people in the asylum where they have been quarantined.

Since the beginning, the author shows us the human nature. As the fear grows, people are overcomed by self-conceit and the struggle for survival, but what strikes you the most is the way people come to horrible extremes.

Another interesting aspect is how a character, who was blind before the epidemic, turns into the luckiest in the new blind world.

The writing is, for the most part, particular. One reason is that Saramago omits names. The reader can identify characters by a meaningful characteristic, as “Girl with dark glasses”, “the first blind” or “man with black eye patch”, for example.

The plot is extremely thought-provoking and incredibly meaningful. All the characters, by which the author shows us the different stances facing with the same problem, are powerful.

If I were to make one criticism of the book, it would be that dialogs are not separated from the narrative, being a little hard to read.

All in all, it is definitely a book worth reading. Not only it is so memorable that you will not forget it but it is riveting. In addition, there is a film adaptation and a second novel, called “Seeing” or “Ensaio sobre a lucidez”.